Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices and methods for providing multimedia data in a motor vehicle (MV), as they can be used especially in infotainment systems.
Description of the Background Art
It is customary in modern motor vehicles to make information, such as, e.g., vehicle status information and entertainment, to be accessible over the same system of control and display elements. Such a system is called an infotainment system in common parlance. Infotainment systems of this type offer, for example, access to operation and vehicle displays, navigation with telemetry, chassis settings and service functions, mobile telephone and the Internet, audio/video, etc. Depending on the vehicle type and/or vehicle class, an infotainment system can comprise an instrument cluster permanently installed in a vehicle with appropriate display and control units, such as, e.g., a multifunction steering wheel. For example, the functionality of a navigation system and a mobile telephone, a radio/TV tuner, etc., can be combined into an instrument cluster of this type. Nevertheless, in other embodiments the individual components can also be realized by separate devices, which then communicate with one another but only to a limited extent, if at all.
Such infotainment systems made up of separate devices are described, for example, in Jahnich, I. et al.: “Integrating Dynamic Load Balancing Strategies into the Car-Network,” 4th IEEE International Symposium on Electronic Design, Test and Applications, 2008, or Bose, R. et al.: “Morphing Smartphones into Automotive Application Platforms,” Computer Vol. 44, May 2011, No. 5, pp. 53-61.
The disadvantages of the aforementioned permanently installed combination devices are, for example, that they cannot keep pace with the rapid development and product cycles in the telecommunication and Internet sectors. Thus, for example, navigation applications of permanently installed navigation devices after some time are no longer up-to-date both in regard to their ease of use and/or the timeliness of the map data being used. Audio and/or video playback functionalities after some time are likewise technically no longer up-to-date, so that it is possible that more recent audio or video formats are not supported by older MV infotainment systems and thus playback of more recent audio or video data is not possible.
Separate devices, such as, e.g., smartphones, are in fact often technically the most advanced, but they can be coupled only inadequately to permanently installed infotainment components, so that, for example, playback of external data on a permanently installed infotainment display or via permanently installed loudspeakers is not possible or only possible inadequately.